Bend News

GUEST COMMENTARY

Want to spend a week this summer with some of the nation’s best-known outdoor writers, practicing the craft of outdoor writing in writer-friendly Missoula? 

The Outdoor Writers Association of America (OWAA) will host its first Goldenrod Writing Workshop at the University of Montana in Missoula August 1-7, 2010. Open to both novice communicators and published professionals, the week-long workshop is designed to improve skills in outdoor, nature and environmental writing. 

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OBAMA WANTS MORE ENVIRONMENAL LITERACY

Calling it a “historic moment” and a “terrific first step,” conservationists applauded President Obama’s budget request that included, for the first time, money for “environmental literacy” for the U.S. Department of Education.

Great news, but keep in mind that it’s only the first step.

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opinion: presidency

I watched a video of President Barack Obama appearing at the GOP House Issues Conference for an hour-long Q&A session, and it just made my little wonkish heart go pitty-pat.

For a few years last decade, I went to graduate school for public administration at Boise State University. Remember high school English, with all the man’s-inhumanity-to-man, Hester-represents-the-Church-of-England symbology stuff? Graduate school is full of that kind of thing, and when you’re done, you swear you’re never going to use it again.

But watching the Obama-GOP interaction today, my fingers were itching to write some sort of turgid, footnoted, Org Theory-heavy, academic paper with all that stuff in it that nobody but wonks would appreciate, because it was just so cool. (I promise, though, no footnotes.)

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LET'S HEAR IT FOR GEEZER POWER!

The bad news is we’re getting older, and the good news is we’re getting older.

Nobody likes the older-slower-fatter succession, but at least when you get to be a geezer--and yep, I’m officially a geezer, so I take it personally--you usually have more time, but less money, to enjoy the outdoors and our public lands for camping, hiking, fishing, or scenic driving.

But not if the Forest Service has its way.

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Western Book Roundup

In her article ”Authors go it alone in new literary landscape” for the Denver Post Sunday book section, Colleen Smith wrote about Tama Kieves and John Thorndike, two authors “with Denver ties” who have thrown themselves into promotion for their books.  (Smith doesn’t mention what those ties are for Thorndike; Kieves lives in Denver, and Thorndike lives in Athens, Ohio).

Tama Kieves originally self-published her self-help book, This Time I Dance!: Creating the Work You Love: How One Harvard Lawyer Left It All To Have It All, and Smith writes: “Kieves keeps up constant efforts, including speaking at conferences and to congregations. ‘I travel like crazy on my own dime because speaking in front of people has been the best exposure for the book,’ she said. ‘I’m the face of that book and the voice of that book. I will usually make money through workshops and book sales, but I’m always taking that risk.’” Smith continues, “four months after self-publishing her book, Penguin Tarcher signed her with a $75,000 advance.”

John Thorndike demonstrated equal hustle, traveling across the country for his last book and contacting hundreds of people he thought might be interested in the topic of his latest book, The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s.

• Smith’s contributor’s note at the end of the article reveals that she’s not a disinterested party to the topic she discussed.  She will self-publish her first novel, Glass Halo, this spring.  What interested me about her story is that according to a Q&A on her website, Smith attended the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, which seems like it must be the magic ticket to traditional publication.  But not for everyone, apparently.  Smith writes, “I’ve been a flack, a hack, a bluestocking, a blogger, and have done just about every other writerly job in between.” She writes that she decided to self-publish after she began blogging.

Also in the Roundup: Oregon accepts nominations for new poet laureate and Whitefish Review hosts a presentation with author Jon Turk.

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Notes From The Road

There are a few rational explanations for why some human beings have difficulties operating a motorized vehicle, and we at NewWest.Net think they’re all bunk.

According to three people with whom we’ve been in constant contact, today seemed to be a monumental day for lousy navigating. Drivers zoomed in and out of lanes for apparently no reason. Men with white beards smoking cigarettes cut off controlled drivers. Semis bore down on cars in the slow lane doing 55. Twits speeding in school zones. Egomaniacs indulging in pure aggression behind the wheel.

Is it seasonal affective disorder? Could it be a traffic accident on a nearby major highway? Maybe it’s National Drive Like a Goon Day?

We decided to dig a bit a deeper into the problem of morons on the road.

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